Since we left the ferry from Istanbul to Bandirma, there were no big adventures in turkey, but it was really a nice trip. We enjoyed being in turkey, the landscape, the food, the people, the general feeling is just great.

After reaching Bandirma we are trying to find a campsite near Erdek in the dark. Luzifer doesn't make it better with stopping the engine on her own all the time, which drowns the battery, which finally makes us kick start her every 10min.

We drive further and further to find the camping-site, which doesn't exist any more.

We decide to camp wild next to the small road we are on. Of course the neighbour gets suspicious and comes out of his house. Naci, the neighbour, who is speaking german, says: No problem! and showes us an even better spot to set up our tent. The next 4 days we stay here, without paying a cent and being warmly welcomed by Naci, who gives us food, lets us wash our clothes and helps us where ever he can.

We ride down the eastcoast of turkey to get further south, because the nights in the tent are not really enjoyable any more. As well in turkey the winter is coming up.

We reach a campsite in Ören which is probably built for 100 our maybe even more people, but we are the only guests apart from one other camper van. And as the world is a small place, Musti and Sieglinde (lovely people) don't live far from us.

After Izmir, Pamukkale and then the real tourist areas around Antalya, which we tried to leave behind us as fast as possible, we come to a really good area for riding bikes. Winding up small mountain roads, far away of the region where tourists usually are. The whole surrounding is covered in banana farms and the view is fantastic. Average speed drops dramatically and we enjoy the windy cruising on our bikes.

The only thing which makes us worry a bit is the uncontrolled stopping of Luzifer, so we decide to bring the bike to a service station in Mersin.

Not just that this problem is solved quite fast, we are lucky to get to know Ahmet (the owner of the service station) and his family (Silbe and Melike), with whom we spend every evening with. We have also been with Ahmet on our first Motorbike club meeting with Türk Chopper, although we have no chopper. :) After these days in Mersin it feels quite hard to say Good bye!

Finally on the 16th of october, Tam finds his way to us. The boys feel like they know each other since a long time and that is good. The team is complete now!

Because Marc and Susi are near the Syrian border, and they won't find a decent PC as easily, I will comment some of which I learn from Phone-Calls and SMS. So hopefully you'll all stay up-to-date as it gets ever more exciting.At the moment the both of them are in Mersin, Turkey near the Syrian border, awaiting Tam who will join them hopefully on Sunday. Staying in a rather unpleasent hotel, they brought Susi's bike to a mechanic and are eager to move on.

For your convenience I have uploaded the Routes they are taking into a nice little google.maps- plugin.You can find it here Photos>Routes. So now it'll be easier for us to keep track of their adventures down south.

After 4 days of enjoying Istanbul it is time to leave. And of course on that day, the weather is horrible. Perfectly organised like always, we check the ferry plan 1h before we leave the hostel and lucky find one boat which just runs during the weekend at 12 30. Enormous high petrol prises and the rain don't make us think too long about taking the ferry the Bandirma.Spot on 12 o clock we are at the ticket counter, but the man there won't give as a ticket, cause he says there is just a ferry in the evening leaving not in the daytime. A bit disappointed we drive off, pass by the departure sight, which shows Bandirma 12 30.. Hm? Thinking, that guy just doesn't want to give us a ticket we stop and start thinking what we can do. A passenger obviously feels sorry for us lost bikers and explains that it is just not a car ferry. How easy was that?How to kill 6 hours? Rain just gets worse, so we sit around the harbour and have a great time with a really funny, cute kitten. Like always it doesn't take long until it is time for food, so we decide to go our favourite little "restaurant", straight opposite of a so called real restaurant. A place where tourist probably wouldn't go to, so just right for us. Big portions, very very nice people who run that place and of course cheap. 4€ for soup, bread, small salad, rice with red bean sauce on top, main dish and a soft drink. :)Rain gets less, so we decide to visit Istanbuls Ktm dealer. Which shouldn't be head to find after we hot a good description from a well sorted and really good bike shop called “Yildiz Ticaret“, well worth visiting, even if it is just for a nice chat. (Hp: www.yildizticaret.com.tr) The KTM dealer (Atamotor, also great people) is a service station, but not a dealer so there is another one, the realty big KTM store in Istanbul.Quite a big trip getting there, but we still have 3h left. But 3 hours is not a lot in istanbul s traffic: Absolute chaos with bully Bus drivers, endless not signed out city highways, which always brings us from one wrong in the even worse direction (we even see once the store from one of them), really frustrating!Finally we reach the mega store to find out, they do not have all the parts we asked for, cause got mixed up with the part number. Heyho, shit happens.The time is now 47min to departure of the ferry. And it is a really long long way, almost impossible to manage, but we try our best. Overtaking on the left and right, driving on the tram line, honking, being bullies brings us just in time on the ferry, which shuts it's doors straight after we get on. 15sec later we would have had no chance to get on anymore. The istanbul drivers were probably quite impressed by us that they.